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- According to a new study, nearly 90% of influential people in social media share inaccurate health information.
- The researchers looked at nine of the UK's biggest influencers in the health field and found that the majority presented their opinions as facts.
- Experts say this is "potentially dangerous" because of the reach of the influencers.
- Visit the INSIDER homepage for more stories.
The researchers explain that people wishing to lose weight must stay away from people who influence social networks and who claim to have the latest food patch.
A study by a team from the University of Glasgow revealed that only one of the top nine UK bloggers making weight management statements provided accurate and reliable information.
Health researchers have studied the country's most popular influencers, relying on those with more than 80,000 subscribers on at least one social networking site, checking at least two sites such as Twitter and one active weight management blog.
Lead author Christina Sabbagh said, "We found that the majority of blogs could not be considered credible sources of information on weight management because they often presented their opinion as a fact and did not respond to nutritional criteria of the United Kingdom.
"This is potentially dangerous because these blogs reach such a large audience."
Although social media stars were not named in the study, the blogs of nine influential influencers published between May and June 2018 were badyzed and rated according to 12 criteria of credibility.
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The university team examined whether influencers' claims about health and nutrition were transparent, reliable, nutritionally sound, and included factual references. They also examined the role of bias in what has been posted online.
Influencers were considered to have "pbaded" the test if they met 70% or more of the criteria. The researchers also examined the last 10 meal recipes of each blog to determine energy content, carbohydrates, protein, fats, saturated fat, fiber, sugar and salt content.
The findings – presented at this year's European Congress of Obesity (ECO) in Glasgow – have shown that a majority of bloggers have failed in fundamental areas.
Five of them presented their opinion as a fact or did not provide factual references for the nutrition claims. Five of them did not provide any warning and, when meals were screened according to Public Health England's caloric targets and traffic light criteria, no blogger Met these criteria.
Among the counseling blogs, only one by a certified nutritionist with a successful degree, with 75%. The lowest compliance rate, 25%, came from an influencer with no nutritional qualifications.
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The authors concluded: "Blogs of influencers in social media are not credible resources for weight management.The popularity and impact of social media in the context of the epidemic. Obesity suggest that all influencers should be required to meet scientifically or medically warranted criteria for providing weight-management tips online. "
Tam Fry, president of the National Obesity Forum, said, "This study adds to the evidence of the destructive power of social media.No matter which Tom, Dick or Harry can go off, post what is wrong. he wants and be believed by his followers.
"What is particularly unfortunate is that the genie is now firmly out of the bottle and it is virtually impossible to ensure that these bloggers comply with the standards, although desirable.
"Bloggers will defend their right to freedom of speech, but posting unnecessary advice is indefensible."
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